


Drowning

by JMount74



Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26985727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: They thought that Scott was safe now, but the signs of delayed drowning were becoming clear. Would they be able to save him this time?TAG universe
Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946881
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Prompt 13: Breathe in, Breathe Out: Delayed Drowning, Oxygen Mask

Secondary, or delayed, drowning is defined as ‘deterioration of the pulmonary function that follows deficient gas exchange due to loss or inactivation of surfactant, a rapid onset that is characterised by a latent period of 1-48 hours of relative respiratory well-being.’ 

Or, as Alan would no doubt have asked Virgil: in layman’s terms delayed drowning is the inability to breath because the lungs have been damaged previously by water, the reaction has just been delayed.

Virgil knows all about secondary drowning, it has been a near-constant concern since Gordon learnt to swim, and since the day Gordon threw non-swimming Alan in the pool.

So it is with some shock, and no little concern, that Virgil recognises the signs of secondary drowning in his big brother. But he knows that, no matter how serious this is – and it can be fatal – tackling Scott about it now is going to be nigh on impossible.

Virgil needs reinforcements.  
Virgil needs John.

Scott and Virgil may have been best friends and confidants, may have a bond beyond any other brother even understands, but in some areas only John can reach their ridiculously pig-headed brother.

The two together tackling Scott? Big brother doesn’t stand a chance.

It is not often that Virgil visits John on Five. Not because he doesn’t want too, more because he seldom has the time to. Virgil has a love for space that has only surfaced recently. Taking Two up had been a highlight he wasn’t even aware he wanted. As he sits in the elevator Virgil goes over in his mind what he is going to say to John.

John is worried. He thought that Scott would break under the weight that he carried previously. Then, then things started to get better. Scott relaxed a little, started smiling more. Hell, he played with a toy! No-one had seen Scott do something as childish as playing since their mom died, the day Scott’s childhood ended so abruptly.

But it was all a front. Now, John saw that time for what it was – it was the deceptive calm before the storm. And this storm was threatening to drown Scott for good if they were not careful. He knew that they needed to intervene somehow, but he knew that he could not do this alone. There was only one person that Scott would listen to, and it was not him.

John needs reinforcements.  
John needs Grandma.

Sally looks and watches.

She sees the burden that Scott carries has almost doubled overnight, even if her eldest grandson has not yet realised that himself. She has seen how everyday he becomes more and more…what is the word? She wants to say empty, but that doesn’t seem right. But he is becoming a shadow, a shell of the man he really is as the stress and strains seem to consume him. That’s it…Scott is drowning and there is little she can do about it.

Oh, she knows that he will listen to her. He will listen and he will promise but then he will carry on anyway.

After all, there is no-one else to do it.

Sally needs reinforcements.  
Sally needs John and Virgil.

John and Virgil are sitting in the galley drinking what passes for coffee on Five. At the moment the silence is companionable while they each consider what they are going to say. EOS is most amused by it when they speak simultaneously.

‘I’m worried about Scott’  
‘I’m worried about Scott’

There is a startled half-second before they both smile and relax. John gestures to Virgil to start. ‘I’m worried, John. He’s not sleeping, not eating. He’s running around trying to arrange everything, go on every rescue, fill in every report. And that’s before he even starts on the TI side of things. He’s drowning, John, and I don’t know how to help him this time.’

John nods while he listens and thinks on what Virgil has said. ‘I’m worried about the same thing. I thought that he had managed to relax a little after that trash mine experience, but now that just seems a small blip on his stress levels. It’s as if, now we know Dad’s out there, Scott’s trying to…to,’ throwing his hands in the air, John sighs. He cannot find the words to describe what he means, and to Virgil this is the biggest sign of how bad things are – John is never lost for words.

‘He’s trying to continue doing everything he was doing before, only now he has added finding your father, which is huge, supervising Brains and the Mechanic (even though they don’t need it) and making sure everything is good for when your dad returns.’

Both boys are surprised at Grandma’s insertion into the conversation, but they nod. She is right – his burdens have just doubled instead of halved. Neither question Grandma’s presence in the conversation. They both wonder at how they thought Scott’s burdens would get lighter now that they knew their dad was out there.

‘EOS,’ Grandma asks, ‘can you pull up data on Scott over the last seven days?’  
‘Of course, Grandma. What would you like to know?’  
‘Sleeping pattern, eating, comparable times spent on IR, GDF and TI paperwork, that sort of thing. If we are going to confront him, we are going to need the evidence, or he will not listen.’

The boys both nod again as EOS starts reeling of stats that are frankly frightening. If these stats had belonged to one of them Scott would have been the first person to ground them. But equally, the three of them are aware that grounding Scott may only make the matter worse as he would worry and stress even more if he wasn’t doing anything.

This is going to take some delicate handling between the three of them or Scott is going to work himself to death regardless of what they say.

Of course, the world would pick now to have an emergency. Scott is dispatched while Virgil returns to earth to go help him. It’s a good job the elevator does not take long to reach home.

Over the next couple of weeks rescues continue as normal and no-one gets the opportunity to even think about confronting Scott. EOS keeps an eye on his rapidly dwindling health stats and passes that information on to Grandma, but she has not even seen Scott in almost a week due to call outs and a sudden emergency that requires Scott’s attendance at TI headquarters.

It is Gordon who sees it first. Initially he dismisses it as Scott stumbling over the rough terrain, but it is something his big brother never does, and he casually mentions it to Virgil on the way back. Virgil moves to hyper-medic mode. 

Before he can do anything about it, another call comes in, and both One and Two are dispatched to a mine collapse. While rerouting, Virgil fills Grandma and John in on Scott’s stumble and both promise to watch Scott carefully. Gordon is rather amused by this until he realises how serious they all are. What has he missed? He throws a quizzical frown at Virgil, but his brother is busy and does not notice.

The rescue goes without a hiccup and they are packing up when both Virgil and Gordon see Scott fall over. He’s back on his feet in seconds, and again it looks like the terrain is at fault, but neither brother is fooled. Scott’s not going to let anyone else fly One home, though, so EOS is tasked with keeping an eye on him. The usual banter between the ships is missing as Scott gets One home as soon as possible. By the time Two has landed Scott is asleep on his bed, and Virgil has no intention of disturbing what little sleep his big brother gets.

Scott’s only been asleep for an hour and a half when he awakens in a panic. Nightmare. They didn’t get the Zero-XL completed in time and when they finally reach the Oort cloud there is no-one to rescue. It has been a reoccurring nightmare for the last couple of weeks, especially after a rescue. 

He shivers slightly and thinks about getting up. Scott knows he will not get any more sleep, and there are reports to write, but for some reason it is getting harder and harder to get up, to get going. If he wasn’t such a strong-willed person, he would probably sleep for a week. But those reports are not going to write themselves, and he wants all the paperwork up to date before they leave, so Scott drags himself out of bed and to the office. It doesn’t even register that it is almost midnight.

MAX passes him a cup of coffee and Scott sits down at the desk. It was – is – his father’s desk, and he lovingly caresses the worn wood as the coffee starts to kick in. Right. IR paperwork first, then the GDF’s and lastly TI. He’s beavering away before he knows it, a gnawing hole in his stomach ignored for getting things done.

Scott can’t remember the last time he ate a meal rather than a protein bar while on the go. Not that he reflects on that. His sole goal is to get everything up to speed so that when they leave, scheduled for two months’ time for optimum window, he can rest knowing that everything is done.

Three coffee’s later and Scott isn’t even aware his body is trying to shut down as 3:30am flashes on the clock. Half the backlog of IR reports are done with the corresponding GDF reports completed too, so Scott has some sense of achievement before he literally passes out at the desk, knocking the thankfully empty cup to the floor. 

He’s only asleep for half an hour this time before the nightmare has him startling awake. Sighing, Scott returns to his room and grabs his jogging gear. It’s a little earlier than usual, but he’s up so why not? He sticks to the easy path in the dark, returning home to a hot shower.

There is a part of him that knows he is drowning again. That overwhelming feeling that nothing he does will be good enough. He is not trying hard enough to keep on top of the paperwork. He is not trying hard enough to ensure the Zero-XL is up to speed. He is not trying hard enough to ensure TI is operating smoothly.

He is not trying hard enough to keep his brothers safe.

This is the overriding thought of his waking hours. He does not want to take his brothers into space with him, but he doesn’t bother voicing that aloud. Scott knows that they will never stay home, and it would be wrong of him to even suggest it, because this is the most important rescue of their lives. It does not stop the worry though. 

He gets through each day by devoting more time to IR, to paperwork, to overseeing the construction work, much to the annoyance of Brains, to not sleeping and dreaming.

Scott thinks about breakfast, but the thought makes him nauseous. Another coffee and he’s off to One’s hanger to check her over in case she’s needed. He doesn’t get far before he is engulfed in a dizzy spell that literally has him falling to his knees. Thank goodness no-one is around to see it. He’s not sure why he has been getting these spells recently and decides to maybe cut back on the caffeine. Yeah, that’s a good idea.

Working though the maintenance check list takes most of the morning, and he is still in One when Virgil comes looking for him.

Virgil had slept in. In fact, EOS woke him with the weekly report on Scott. He feels vaguely guilty that they are spying on his brother, but the medic in him knows Scott will work until he passes out before seeking help – and not even then, as Gordon has mentioned more than once finding Scott asleep at the desk in the early hours.

He had taken the time to discuss the three near-syncopate episodes with John and Grandma, and they had all agreed that today was the day, especially seeing that Scott had had only two hours of sleep after three back-to-back rescues. He was already up to the limit of safe flying hours, but that would not stop him working. He was going to give Scott a full physical. The excuse being that they would all need them before going into space and now would be a good time to deal with any issues before that deadline passed. It was a good plan.

So Virgil is a little surprised that Scott doesn’t reply to his calls. He knows he’s in there, working as usual, but it is not like Scott to ignore him. Virgil puts down the coffee mugs and plate of cookies and climbs the gantry into One. He looks, but Scott is not inside.

Puzzled, Virgil descends into the hanger. Maybe Scott is working down there. EOS has confirmed he is in the hanger, vital signs are stable, if not exactly brilliant. But before he has even got halfway down EOS is buzzing his comm.

‘EOS?’ he asks, wondering what has changed in the 90 seconds since they spoke last. ‘Scott’s passed out on the hanger floor,’ and Virgil is running, two smashed mugs and a forgotten plate of cookies behind him, calling both Gordon and Grandma for help as he goes. 

By the time Virgil gets to Scott he had expected the older man to be awake. But he is not, and that worries Virgil even more. He checks his brother’s airway and breathing, and is relieved that they are fine, but his breathing is shallow, and his pulse is rapid and weak. There is a small cut on his temple where Scott has hit his head on something, but Virgil cannot see anything around him.

Gordon is not far behind him and has had the foresight to grab a stretcher. He can hear Virgil commenting as he is checking Scott’s breathing: ‘breathe in, breathe out.’ They roll Scott onto the stretcher as John’s hologram watches and prepare to lift. Both are shocked at how light Scott is. Scott is taller than both of them, and while he doesn’t have the broad muscular frame of Virgil, he is still in excellent shape and is usually heavier than this – far heavier. Worry is turning into guilt that they had not interceded before.

By the time they reach the infirmary Virgil is in to full medic mode and John is on his way down. Gordon leaves the two medics to run their scans while he goes to meet John. Knowing the scanning will take a little longer, the pair go wake Alan up. They know from past experience that keeping one of them being ill a secret from Alan is the worst thing to do.

Alan gets it together in record time and by the time they reach the infirmary the scans are finished. Scott is still unconscious and is hooked up to a drip and an oxygen mask. Exchanging worried glances about their eldest brother seems to have become a habit, and they are all feeling guilty that no-one said anything.

‘He is just suffering from extreme exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition,’ Sally tells her boys. She can see the guilt written across their faces, and she is sure it is plain on her own. They need to come up with a plan while Scott is out of it. So Grandma takes charge.

‘John, please tell the GDF we are on 48 hours shut down. They will have to sort out things themselves. EOS, please monitor and pass on rescues to the appropriate people. Virgil, you are going to finish of the reports for the GDF, Gordon you finish the reports for IR. John you can help them both after you’ve sorted out the GDF. I’m going to see to TI and finish those reports. We have 48 hours to get everything up to speed.’

‘What can I do, Grandma?’ Alan asks, his voice sounding small. He may be 18 years old, but this scare makes him feel out of his depth. Sally smiles at her youngest grandson. ‘You have the most important job. I want you to stay here with Scott and make sure he doesn’t get up for the next 48 hours.’ Alan perks up at that. This is something he can do to help.

They all scatter to their jobs. Virgil, Gordon and Grandma all head up to the lounge by elevator, while John takes the stairs. ‘Do you think leaving Alan in charge of Scott is a good idea, Grandma?’ asks Gordon. There is no way Scott will listen to Allie when it comes to staying in the infirmary. Heck, he doesn’t even listen to Virgil in that regard! But Sally smiles and says that it is unlikely Scott will wake up before then as his body is so exhausted.

48 hours passes very quickly when you are busy. But they have managed to get on top of every single report and file needed. The four convene in the lounge before heading back to the infirmary. They are all shocked at the level of work Scott has been taking on, on top of rescues and watching Brains and tracking Alan’s schoolwork. No wonder their brother is so exhausted.

Plans are drawn up so that this does not happen again. Virgil and Gordon are tasked with IR reports while John and Grandma will help out with GDF and TI reports. No-one is stupid enough to voice the opinion that Scott will let these go. The man is a workaholic, and he views these as his own responsibility, but they are determined not to let him drown in paperwork again.

Alan has had the most boring 48 hours ever. Scott hasn’t even stirred once. But, on the bright side, he has managed to discover two secret rooms in Cavern Quest II and defeated the zombie horde in his best time ever. 

It’s getting on to nearly 51 hours Scott’s been unconscious before he shows signs of coming round. All his brothers, Grandma and Brains are in the infirmary waiting. His overall stats have improved considerably, the drip will be removed once he starts drinking, but he won’t be allowed out until he starts eating again. Everyone was shocked at how much weight Scott had lost, forgetting that not eating is a classic Scott coping strategy. Grandma is sure it won’t take more than a couple of days now he has had some rest.

Opening his eyes is difficult, but after a couple of false starts they are open. And Scott is surprised to see everyone around him. It’s a bit disorientating to find he is not in his own bed, but Virgil soon fills him in on what has happened over the last three days, including how they have completed the paperwork for him.

Scott feels guilty he let things get on top of him so much. He has caused Brains a delay, but Brains assures him that the reason he is here and not building the Zero-XL is because the test engines are ready and waiting for Scott.

‘How are you feeling, dear?’ asks his Grandma. Scott ponders for a moment. He feels lighter than he has felt for years, for the first time he can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

‘I feel…I feel like I’m no longer drowning.’


End file.
